Deeplinks Blog posts about Policy Analysis

Today the European Court of Justice declared the EU's Data Retention Directive invalid, declaring that the mass collection of Internet data in Europe entailed a "wide-ranging and particularly serious interference with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data." The Directive ordered European states to pass laws that obliged Internet intermediaries to log records on their users' activity, keep them for up to two years, and provide access to the police and security services. The ECJ joins the United Nations' Human Rights Committee which last month called upon the United States to refrain from imposing mandatory retention of data by third parties.

After months of hearing about their own vulnerability at the hands of intelligence agencies like the NSA and GCHQ, next Wednesday, European Parliamentarians and their staff will have an opportunity to learn about defending Internet communications using strong encryption and trusted hardware and software. Unfortunately, unless the Parliament's own IT department shifts ground, it will be a theoretical discussion, rather than the practical first steps to a secure European Parliament that its organizers had hoped.

Last week, facing pressure from the Federal Communications Commission, the major wireless carriers promised to unlock mobile devices so that they can be used on other carriers' networks when the customer's contract has expired. This follows the outcry early this year over the Library of Congress's decision to remove legal protection against Digital Millennium Copyright Act suits for people who unlock their devices to change carriers.

Last Monday, eight of the largest Internet companies took the unprecedented step of publicly calling for an end to bulk collection of communications data. Then on Tuesday, a coalition of over 550 of the world’s leading authors (including 5 Nobel prize winners) issued a statement calling for a reassertion of our digital privacy. In the next few days, the United Nations General Assembly is expected to pass a key privacy resolution.